And God completed on the seventh day: Rabbi Shimon said: [A human being of] flesh and blood, who cannot [exactly] know his times and his moments, must add from the profane to the holy [i.e., he must add some time to the Sabbath.] The Holy One, blessed be He, Who knows His times and His moments [exactly], entered it [the Sabbath] within a hairbreadth, and it therefore appeared as if He completed it [His work] on that day. Another explanation: What was the world lacking? Rest. The Sabbath came, and so came rest. The work was completed and finished. — [from Gen. Rabbah 10:9]

And…blessed…and hallowed: He blessed it with manna, for on all the days of the week, it descended for them [in the amount of] an omer per person, whereas on the sixth day,[each one received] a double portion. And He hallowed it with manna, that it did not descend at all on the Sabbath. This verse is written with reference to the future. — [from Gen. Rabbah 11:2]

when they were created, on the day that the Lord…made: This teaches you that they were all created on the first day (Gen. Rabbah 12:4). Another explanation of the word בְּהִבָּרְאָם He created them with the letter “hey,” as it is written (Isa. 26:4): “for in Yah (יָהּ), the Lord, is the Rock of eternity.” With these two letters [“yud” and “hey”] of the Name, He fashioned two worlds, and it teaches you here that this world was created with a “hey” (Men. 29b). (Other editions: It intimates that just as the “hey” is open at the bottom, so is the world open for the repentant. The World to Come was created with a “yud,” to tell you that the righteous at that [future] time, will be few as a “yud,” which is the smallest of the letters.) This intimates that the wicked will descend below to see the netherworld, like the [letter] “hey,” which is closed on all sides and open at the bottom, for them [the wicked] to descend through there. — [from Gen. Rabbah 12:10]

was yet on the earth: Every טֶרֶם in Scripture has the meaning of “not yet,” and it does not mean“before,” and it cannot be made into a verb form, to say הִטְרִים, as one says הִקְדִּים This verse proves this, as well as another verse (Exod. 9:30): “כִּי טֶרֶם תִּירְאוּן, You will not yet fear.” This verse too should be explained to mean that [no tree] was yet on the earth (Targum Onkelos) when the creation of the world was completed on the sixth day, before man was created.

neither did any herb of the field yet grow: [I.e.,] had not yet grown. And on the third [day], where it is written: “Let the earth bring forth,” they [the plants] had not yet emerged, but they stood at the entrance of the ground until the sixth day. And why?

Because… not caused it to rain: Because there was no man to work the soil, and no one recognized the benefit of rain, but when man came and understood that they were essential to the world, he prayed for them, and they fell, and the trees and the herbs sprouted. — [from Chul. 60b]

the Lord God: יהוה is His name. אֱלֹהִים [means] that He is the Ruler and Judge over the entire world, and so is this defined everywhere according to its simple meaning: the Lord (יהוה ), Who is Ruler and Judge (אֱלֹהִים).

6And a mist ascended from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground.

ווְאֵד יַעֲלֶה מִן הָאָרֶץ וְהִשְׁקָה אֶת כָּל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה:

And a mist ascended: Concerning the creation of man, He brought up the [waters of the] deep and watered the clouds to soak the earth, and man was created; like the baker, who puts water [into the flour] and afterwards kneads the dough. Here too, “He watered,” and afterwards, “He formed” [man]. — [from Exod. Rabbah 30:113; Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer, ch. 5]

formed: [וַיִּיצֶר, with two “yuds,” hints at] two creations, a creation for this world and a creation for the [time of the] resurrection of the dead, but in connection with the animals, which do not stand in judgment, two“yuds” are not written in [the word וַיִּצֶר describing their creation. — [from Tan. Tazria 1]

dust from the ground: He gathered dust from the entire earth, from the four directions, so that wherever he [man] would die, it [the earth] would accept him for burial (Tan. Pekudei 3). Another explanation: He took his dust from the place of which it is said (Exod. 20:21): “You shall make Me an altar of earth.” If only it would be an atonement for him, so that he might endure! (Gen. Rabbah 14:8)

and He breathed into his nostrils: He made him of earthly matter and of heavenly matter: the body of earthly matter the soul of heavenly matter. Because on the first day, heaven and earth were created. On the second day, He created the firmament for the heavenly beings; on the third day [He commanded], “and let the dry land appear,” for the earthly beings; on the fourth day, He created luminaries for the heavenly beings; on the fifth day, [He commanded],“Let the waters swarm,” for the earthly beings; on the sixth day, it became necessary to create for both the heavenly and the earthly beings, for if not, there would be jealousy in the Creation, for these would exceed those by the creation of one day. — [from Gen. Rabbah 12:8]

from the east: Heb. מִקֶּדֶם. In the east of Eden, He planted the garden (Midrash Konen). Now if you ask: It has already been stated (above 1:27): “And He created man, etc.!” I saw in the Baraitha of Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Jose the Galilean concerning the thirty-two principles by which the Torah is expounded, and this is one of them [method 13]: A general statement followed by a specific act, the latter constitutes a specific [clarification] of the first [general statement]. “And He created man.” This is a general statement. It left obscure whence he was created, and it left His deeds obscure [i.e., how God created man]. The text repeats and explains: “And the Lord God formed, etc.,” and He made the Garden of Eden grow for him, and He placed him in the Garden of Eden, and He caused a deep sleep to fall upon him. The listener may think that this is another story, but it is only the detailed account of the former. Likewise, in the case of the animal, Scripture repeats and writes (below verse 19): “And the Lord God formed from the ground all the beasts of the field,” in order to explain, “and He brought [them] to man” to name them, and to teach about the fowl, that they were created from the mud.

Pishon: This is the Nile, the river of Egypt, and because its waters are blessed, and they rise and water the land, it is called Pishon, like (Hab. 1:8):“and their riders shall increase (וּפָשׁוּ) .” (Unknown midrash, quoted by Zeror Hamor, below 41:1, Letters of Rabbi Akiva). Another explanation: [It is called] Pishon because it causes flax (פִשְׁתָן) to grow, as is stated in reference to Egypt (Isa. 19:9):“And those who work at flax (פִּשְׁתִּים)…shall be ashamed” (Gen. Rabbah 16:2).

It is not good, etc.: [Gen. Rabbah] Lest they [people] say, “There are two dominions: the Holy One, blessed be He, is alone among the heavenly beings, and He has no mate, and this one [man] among the earthly creatures, has no mate.”

a helpmate opposite him: If he is worthy, she will be a helpmate. If he is not worthy, she will be against him, to fight him. — [from Gen. Rabbah 17:3, Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer , ch. 12. See also Yev. 63a]

עזר כנגדו: זכה עזר, לא זכה כנגדו להלחם:

19And the Lord God formed from the earth every beast of the field and every fowl of the heavens, and He brought [it] to man to see what he would call it, and whatever the man called each living thing, that was its name.

And God formed from the earth: This “forming” is identical with the “making” mentioned above (1:25): “And God made the beasts of the earth, etc.” But it comes here to explain that the fowl were created from the mud, because it stated above that they were created from the water, and here it states that they were created from the earth (Chul. 27b). It also teaches you here that at the time of their forming, immediately on that day, He brought them to man to name them (Avoth d’Rabbi Nathan, ch. 1). And in the words of the Aggadah [Gen. Rabbah 17:4], this יְצִירה has the meaning of domination and conquest, like (Deut. 20:19):“When you besiege (תָצוּר) a city,” meaning that He subjugated them under man’s dominion.

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall: [Gen. Rabbah 17:4] When He brought them [the animals], He brought before him of every species, male and female. He (Adam) said, “Everyone has a mate, but I have no mate.” Immediately,“And God caused to fall.”

of his sides: Heb. מִצַּלְעֹתיו, of his sides, like (Exod. 26:20):“And for the side (וּלְצֶלַע) of the Tabernacle.” This coincides with what they [the Rabbis] said: They were created with two faces. — [from Gen. Rabbah 8:1] See also Eruvin 18a, Ber. 61a.

[And He] built: [He made her] like a building, broad at the bottom and narrow at the top, so that she can carry a fetus, like a storehouse of wheat, which is broad at the bottom and narrow on top, so that its burden should not weigh on its walls. — [from Ber. 61a, Eruv. 18a]

This one shall be called ishah because, from ish: One expression coincides with the other [i. e., the words אִישׁ and words אִשָּׁה have the same root]. From here is derived that the world was created with the Holy Tongue. — [from Gen. Rabbah 18:4]

but they were not ashamed: for they did not know the way of modesty, to distinguish between good and evil (Gen. Rabbah) (Targum Yerushalmi), and even though knowledge was granted him to call [all the creatures] names, he was not imbued with the evil inclination until he ate of the tree, and the evil inclination entered into him, and he knew the difference between good and evil (Gen. Rabbah) (Zohar, vol. 1, 36b; Mid. Tadshei 7).